Change is seldom easy, especially when it involves multiple stakeholders and even entire organizations. Many entities—from international organizations to language service companies—are watching technological change wreak havoc on traditional service and business models. Change is imperative but few want or even know how to initiate it.
As chief interpreter at a United Nations agency, Ewandro set in motion a radical technological change and managed it long enough to understand the... Read More
With the advent of the Internet of Things, the localization industry has been growing at a fast pace. To keep up with constant product innovation and with more demanding users, companies have decided to focus on their core business, leaving the localization and globalization of their products to LSPs—the localization specialists.
Although the in-house model may seem outdated and time-consuming, the fully outsourced model is not without problems. In this session, we will discuss the... Read More
When attempting to solve some of their business challenges like increasing revenues, lowering costs at production sites, and expanding service offerings, companies have several options. This presentation will examine one particular option: acquisitions. The session will discuss the benefits and challenges that small- and mid-sized language services companies face and what they stand to gain if they are successful in implementing an acquisition strategy. A case study of a $7 million... Read More
Success is great, but rapid growth without proper structures can lead to the demise of an organization. You might run out of human resources, business resources, or the ability to manage the operational side of your enterprise. As a result, you lose clients.
This session will focus on tools and methodologies to help you sustainably grow your language business.
1. Invest in the right human resources. Carefully pick people that will help you establish sound structures.
2... Read More
The translation industry is changing and demand for translation services is shifting online. Next generation language service providers need to adapt to this changing industry and move online to meet this growing translation demand.
This talk will describe how to expand your translation business in the online market. Translated.net has been focusing solely on online translation services since the beginning and has continued growing steadily up to a $15M business. The key? Process... Read More
This talk will discuss key challenges associated with supporting translation of offerings by development organizations transitioning from waterfall-like processes to more agile continuous delivery methodologies.
Development teams are under pressure to deliver function and capabilities rapidly, yet they often must wait for translation processes to catch up. New approaches leverage enhanced machine translation technologies and enable development teams to get the speed of MT yet have... Read More
There are many different ways to lead, and everyone has their own style. But where does your model of leadership come from – why do you lead in the way that you do? We’ll examine a variety of styles of leadership, considering their advantages and disadvantages in various contexts. We’ll ask whether using other styles could make you a more effective leader, and especially what styles of leadership are needed from you to help your organization meet its current challenges.
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Neural Machine Translation has recently received a lot of hype. There is no doubt it is an emerging technology with massive potential, but it is not yet a sweeping solution to all ills. Several factors prevent NMT from being commercially ready. Expectations, therefore, need to be managed. That is the goal of this talk.
The presenters will describe a collaborative initiative—between Iconic, a commercial MT software provider, and ADAPT, a world-leading MT research group working on NMT—... Read More
Focusing on a lean and agile approach, Concorde has begun to translate large online content in the “scrum” framework. What is achieved with this approach is commitment of the client, commitment of the translators, cooperation both between the translators themselves and with the client, and immediate feedback on the translation projects. When supported by the right software, feedback can be implemented at any time. It is essential that the software used does not work with large im- and... Read More
Let's face it, reporting is at the base of every business decision made in any organization. Executives and senior managers love numbers and are fluent in the language of reporting. A report showing meaningful, relevant and well presented data can make or break the case for multimillion dollar investments, or for adding a head count to your department.
This session will explore what data to analyze and how to present it to show the business impact of localization. Reports will be... Read More
Learn the tips and strategies to put together a compelling and winning capabilities presentation that language companies can use in sales situations. The presentation will cover important components to include and pitfalls to avoid.
This presentation will show the audience how to set the objectives for the presentation, how to define the core message, and how to use those objective(s) and message to drive and shape content to develop a compelling presentation that resonates with the... Read More
This session will address Spil Games' evolution from being “the localization team”, considered a post-production service group that was brought in at the end of development and always “holding things up,” to the “Globalization Team,” which is now involved as an integral part of the entire game production cycle.The presentation will address this evolution in four parts: automation, visibility, proven added value, and content strategy. Attendees can expect to learn how the team evolved into a... Read More
Running and growing a successful business is not a straight-forward, easy operation. Company owners are being confronted with a competitive landscape, where buyers face considerable budgetary constraints and service suppliers are forced to adapt to the new era of cost reduction, increased process efficiencies, short turnaround–times and more. Some companies face serious issues preventing them from growing successful and sustainable businesses.
This session will address obstacles... Read More
Interpreting has become the next frontier of innovation in the language services sector with new interpreting delivery platforms and interpreting management systems appearing all the time. Many solutions have only a handful of clients or regular accounts, if any at all.
In this session, we’ll cover the various technology types and dissect the challenges to sell such solutions. Developers and service providers must address core problems – or the interpreting technology market will... Read More
Divided into three sub-presentations, this Short Talk will provide a first-hand, 360-degree perspective on the use of machine translation (MT) in an LSP. Following a thorough introduction to aspects such as the technical platform, training of engines, corpora, etc., the audience will gain an insight into the lessons learned while implementing MT in TextMinded—from the very first steps taken in early 2014 by a pilot test team, to the full roll-out on all clients and to all in-house... Read More
This session is open to client/buyer-side attendees only. An unconference has no formal structure, no slide presentations and no set agenda. It is a forum that encourages idea and knowledge sharing. Attendees collectively select topics for discussion in smaller break-out groups. Main talking points and take aways are then shared with all participants. Finally, why not continue the conversation beyond the conference? Attendees will have an opportunity to contribute ideas for maintaining the... Read More
This interactive workshop, led by Jonathan Bowring (Riversight Consulting), will introduce the key concepts of coaching and why it can be a helpful technique to have in your management toolkit. We’ll explore self-awareness, listening well and the power of good questions. We’ll discuss how coaching can maximize the potential of the people you manage, increasing engagement and ownership. Come with an open mind, ready to participate and try out some basic techniques.
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This Master Class will include presentations of the full suite of advanced Arabic language technologies, specifically NLP, Machine Translation, Segmentation, Parsing, Normalization, Diacritization, Speech Recognition among others and some of the implementations in real-world solutions and scenarios. Another important aspect that will be discussed is the heavy use and reliance on machine learning for all the technologies presented.
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US Translation Company specializes in language services for the life sciences and manufacturing sectors. However, the company has had difficulty standing out in a crowded field. Especially when hundreds of competitors are likewise claiming expertise in those same sectors. To differentiate themselves, USTC launched an aggressive research and publishing campaign, producing in-depth, quality articles in major trade magazines. This session will describe the considerations and lessons-learned... Read More
In the language services technologies market one of the newest entrants and fastest moving sectors is that of the Interpretation Management System (IMS) and the Interpretation Delivery Platform (IDP). There are a handful of tech companies able to provide robust cloud-based solutions that support both IMS and IDP in the LSP community. How can this next generation of interpretation tools and technologies expand financial and business opportunities for both LSPs and interpreters alike and what... Read More
The move from localization programs based on waterfall to an ‘always on’ ‘continuous publishing’ service is unstoppable. What is less obvious is the impact such programs have on the complete supply chain, especially when you add massive size to the equation. This session will tell the story of Microsoft Office—which is sold in 140 countries, localized into 107 languages, and whose continuous localization model involves 1000+ linguists and 120+ language moderators. The presenter will show... Read More
For some it is hard to believe that large in-house teams of linguists still exist in corporations, considering the abundance of Language Service Providers nowadays. At Rotary, the in-house team not only had to find a way to stay relevant, but also change their approach by performing tasks beyond turning content from one language to another. This sessions will discuss how this transformation has occurred and what strategies were put in place to make it all happen.
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Translation companies operating in more than one market typically have at least one sales person per location. But is this the ideal sales model or would a centralized approach work better? How can the manager ensure unified sales processes across diverse markets? Do local cultures influence selling techniques? If so, to what extent? Finally, which KPIs and metrics can be used to measure the sales team’s success? Inge will present a case study on Arancho Doc’s international sales team that... Read More
The consolidation of the language services industry has led companies to become more geographically dispersed. Many find it difficult to balance corporate culture with that of local offices, and subsidiaries must worry about their own processes and balance sheets while achieving corporate goals. The following questions are important to answer: How can single offices effectively focus on their subject matter or language expertise, and what is the role of “headquarters” in the process? When... Read More
The error review functionality in the open TAUS DQF API allows providers of language services to integrate quality review in their day-to-day tool environment and to track and benchmark their translation performance on the TAUS Quality Dashboard. The error review API is based on a harmonization of the DQF (Dynamic Quality Framework) and MQM (Multidimensional Quality Metrics) error typologies that was funded by the European Commission as part of the QT21 project. It is now available to all... Read More
Education City is an initiative of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development. Located on the outskirts of Doha, the capital of Qatar, Education City covers 14 square kilometers and houses educational facilities from school age to research level and branch campuses of some of the world's universities, such as Georgetown, Virginia Commonwealth, and Northwestern. To meet the growing demand for interpreting in Education City, a remote interpreting unit was created with a... Read More
Web localization projects today are embedded into content marketing and marketing automation strategies. They are characterized by an increased volume of content, though individual jobs tend to be smaller, more frequent, and have shorter turnaround times. From the lack of an internationalization and localization strategy to the absence of clearly defined processes, workflows and responsibilities, to missing interfaces between website management and translation management systems, the... Read More
To grow business and maintain high customer satisfaction, sales people and delivery teams need to work hand in hand. However, it is rarely a match made in heaven: sales people focus on bringing business, operational people focus on delivering projects. This session will address how to improve communications between both functions, review motivation and compensation, define what new business actually is and assess how corporate culture affects the sales/operations balance.
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What can a relatively small LSP offer clients in the era of market concentration and language service colossi? For starters, services that the giants of the industry often cannot or will not offer, precisely due to their size. Examining this question in earnest requires touching on some of the most important - and sometimes uncomfortable - topics affecting the industry today.
This session, featuring two co-presenters from radically different backgrounds and with an important... Read More
Interpreters work in increasingly degraded conditions and there is a growing disconnect between institutional conference interpreters and the private sector. The promise of emerging technologies combined with a lack of understanding of the complexities of language translation and interpretation can lead to confusion and bad choices on the part of language service consumers. An open-minded and realistic approach is necessary to the ongoing success of interpretation. This session will explore... Read More
Research shows that professional growth and satisfaction are easier to achieve with the guidance of an effective mentor. This workshop will demonstrate how mentoring works and what to expect from a mentor-mentee relationship with the goal of helping participants capitalize their career growth in a mindful, structured path for success. Moreover, we will look at the different careers paths in the localization industry, resumé tips, and growth and continuing education strategies to stay... Read More
There is currently no unified, standard API for the translation industry, yet true digital transformation will only happen when companies can connect their workflows directly to the market. Join GALA, TAUS, and LT-Innovate in a community initiative to establish translation API standards. TAPICC seeks to create a basic subset of API use cases and classes to become a reliable and stable, interoperable “middleware” between tool providers, end clients, and LSPs. This will be a working session to... Read More
Cloud and mobile platforms are driving unprecedented content consumption and increased customer expectations -- robust continuous delivery localization is now a requirement in many situations. Automation and technology are enablers for organizations to release "global content at top speed!" and they bring part of the solution, but lean, continuous delivery models need to work in harmony with all functions in the delivery chain. In many situations, a cultural and organizational shift is... Read More
The Globalization team at NetApp has developed, mapped, and embedded a Globalization Content Strategy to get all global enterprise content to market. This strategy encompasses all content types that the Globalization Programs Strategy Office has to author, localize, and publish for the company, regardless of language. Come and learn how the NetApp team accomplishes all this by embracing different methodologies from transcreation to machine translation, and by being inclusive of all different... Read More
Can project management functions benefit from the new way of computing - from artificial intelligence? In short, yes! Project management systems have already evolved from the classic models which focused primarily on data processing. We're now seeing systems that perform semantically rich, automatic actions as reactions to events that occur in the system. But what will the next generation look like? Is autonomous translation project management truly possible? And if so, what are the... Read More
With close to 60 years of combined experience Anne-Marie and Renato will share with the audience the characteristics that they have identified in all the successful deals that they have been involved with. Having trained and managed over 500 people, including sales managers and top sales performers, they have identified the six main elements that are present in a successful translation sales process. This interactive session will include examples and stories that can be applied immediately... Read More
In 2016, Translators without Borders deployed the first-ever humanitarian interpreter roster to assist aid organizations and refugees in Greece. In this think! Interpreting talk, TWB Deputy Director Rebecca Petras will discuss how the interpreter roster was developed, what challenges it presented, and next steps in the evolution of interpreting in a crisis. In this interactive session, she also will take ideas and advice from those in the field, to help the organization with the next phase... Read More
Tennispoint.de is Germany's #1 online retailer for tennis equipment and they are now expanding their business internationally. To support the expansion, they are localizing the online shop into multiple languages. With 60,000 product names and descriptions and about 20,000 updates a year, adding each language is a major investment and a huge organizational challenge. This session will describe Tennispoint.de's expansion strategy that is enabling the company to go global without inflating the... Read More